Many people with disabilities in Wisconsin are not receiving the quality supports they need. Often this is because Medicaid provider rates are too low to ensure access.
The Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) that makes rules about programs like your ForwardHealth card is canceling a rule that makes states set provider rates high enough to allow people to access the healthcare services and supports they need. (CMS has already narrowed the rule to not cover home and community-based provider rates within programs like Family Care and IRIS.)
Take action this week to tell CMS that adequate reimbursement rates are critical to maintaining access to supports and services in the Medicaid program.
Background information about the rule is located here. We have created a template for comments that you can edit and submit.
This is an important opportunity to reinforce to CMS how inadequate rates hurt people with disabilities and contribute to the workforce crisis. We encourage you to add to the template any information about access problems in your community or how low wages and high turnover rates are impacting services and supports to people with I/DD.
CMS must have adequate tools to provide oversight of the states and that will not be achieved by eliminating this rule. Comments are due on September 13.
Enter your comments here.
